Sweet nothing
by Jadeite no Miko
Summary: Short, fluffy ficlet with shounen-ai hints


"Sweet Nothing"  
  
Author: Dancing Moon  
Archived at: http://go.to/dancing_moon  
C&C: Direct it to dancing_moon@hotmail.com  
Disclaimer: I don't own anyone or anything, but the story. All hail Rumiko-sama!  
Notes: No plot, no sex, no point... nothing actually ^_^  
This was a late at night, spur of the moment, sudden inspiration, fic.  
  
Enjoy!  
  
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Ranma was fighting... No, that's not correct, because when Ranma Saotome *fought* mountains were leveled, gods destroyed and dragons defeated.  
  
Ranma was sparring... Actually, that's not entirely true either, since a spar for Ranma involved his father using all dirty tricks he could, the constant risk of falling into the pond always close by and the knowledge that while this wasn't a serious fight he still couldn't take it easy. The art was everything, and therefor training was as important as fighting. But not always enjoyable...  
  
Ranma was in the middle of a heap of violent maniacs, trying to escape in one piece while not harming any girls... While this certainly applied to many other situations in Ranma Saotome's daily life, there were no fiancées nearby, nor was Kuno, Mousse or the two ancient fossils that took delight in tormenting him present.  
  
Ranma was defeating an enemy... well, technically speaking one could say he was, but in Ranma Saotome's mind this particular enemy had hung around so long that he was more or less a friend. A bit more then less actually, especially since he'd stopped trying to make all those death-treats come true.  
  
Ranma was enjoying himself... Oh yes, that he was. And even if it was hard to believe, due to the curses and angry snarls, so was Ryoga Hibiki, the person Ranma was currently engaged in battle with.   
  
"Damn you, Ranma!" the Lost Boy screamed, chasing the elusive martial artist with his deadly umbrella. But in the deep eyes there was a tinker of relief, the familiarity of the fight making him feel at ease for the first time in a long while.   
To constantly be on the move was tiring for both body and mind, and the routine of fighting Ranma was relaxing, strange as it might seem. In his weaker moments, Ryoga even allowed himself to wonder if the only reason he attacked Ranma out of the blue nowadays was to enjoy these matches with him... Nah, couldn't be. He was going to kill the pig-tailed boy, some day.   
It just wasn't very convenient to do so right now.   
  
"Oh, get over it, piggy," Ranma taunted good-heartedly and evaded Ryoga's fist, which shattered a cliff behind him. He ducked to get away from the debris, and winked to Ryoga to assure the other that no harm was intended. The Lost Boy merely glowered, but since he wasn't screaming bloody murder, Ranma felt (almost) sure the true meaning of his words had gone through.   
  
"Doing the old Bakusai Tenketsu again, I see..." he remarked casually, and prepared a round of his own special attack. "Thinking of a future in the demolition practice?"   
  
At this, the normally depressed martial artist actually smiled. "Only if it involves crushing you," he mumbled.   
  
"Oh, I'm devastated that you would think such a thing about me!"  
Ranma's fist connected with Ryoga's abdomen several hundred times, and in obvious pain, the bandana clad boy staggered backwards.   
Too obvious, Ranma thought with a smirk, it seemed like Ryoga was trying to trick him. Interesting, the Lost Boy must've picked something up during the months he'd been gone...  
  
"Ranma, stop that!" an aggravated voice cried behind him, and before the pigtailed boy had time to turn around and defend himself against this new attacker, a shinai smashed him square in the head.  
  
Groaning, the young martial artist fell to the ground. "We were just playing, Akane!" he said in a hurt voice and rubbed his bruised head. "And didn't you promise to *not* do that anymore?"  
  
The youngest member of the Tendou family snorted with obvious disbelief, and said, "Yeah right, playing... Besides, this isn't a mallet, so nyah!"   
  
She reached out a helping hand to Ryoga, who was also sprawled on the ground, but less for the fact that he was in pain as for the reason the sun was warm and it would be too much of a hassle to get up.   
"Ranma, why were you harassing him again, and when Ryoga's been gone for such a long time," she muttered.  
  
"It's okay, Akane," the aforementioned boy said and jumped up, not daring to touch her outreached hand. "I'm fine, really... but thanks for caring," Ryoga said with a slight blush, more from old habits then real embarrassment nowadays.   
His mind wandered away as she and Ranma continued to squabble, reflecting on the change of tone that had appeared while he was out wandering.   
  
Kami-sama, he couldn't believe the way he'd spent his sixteen years of life; one moment in complete bliss the next in a deep hole of depression because of this... sure, Akane was cute and strong, but yet a quite average girl.  
Okay, his life still consisted of wild (and erratic) mood swings, but nowadays they were mostly based on what that idiot Ranma said or did. Hang on...  
Ranma?  
  
...  
  
Ranma?!! Now wait *just* a minute here!  
  
"Would you like to taste my new curry receipt later Ryoga?" Akane asked pleasantly. "Father said it's quite edible, but that mean Ranma," an angry glare towards the lowlife in question, "said he didn't dare try it before someone had done a toxic test."  
  
What's he got to do with my sense of mind? Ryoga wondered. Ranma means nothing to me, less then nothing! That my life has been focused on following him, defeating him, fighting him and sometimes helping him is in no way important...  
"Huh? Sure Akane, I'd love to taste your delicious curry," his mouth answered cheerily, without asking neither brain nor stomach for advice.  
  
"Suck-up," Ranma muttered, and elbowed Ryoga lightly in the ribs.   
  
This time, the Lost Boy's mind activated, and he retorted, "Weakling!"   
  
"Ass."  
  
Growl. "Sissy."  
  
A glint of anger. "Directionally challenged baka!"  
  
Hurt pride. "Loudmouthed jerk!"  
  
"Bastard!"  
  
The smirk of evil inspiration. "Wimp!"  
  
Momentary confusion, then triumph. "Jerk!  
  
"You already used that, didn't you?"  
  
Blush. "So what, it's true!"  
  
"Idiot!"  
  
Evil grin. "Loser!"   
  
A challenged issued, a challenge accepted. "Femme-boy!"   
  
Time to bring in the heave artillery. "Pig!"  
  
"Girly!"  
  
A teasing smile; sure sign of someone feeling victorious.   
"P-chan..."  
  
"Ranma, PREPARE TO DIE!"  
  
A soft chuckle accompanied the renewed fight, as Nabiki joined her sister, watching the fight with interest.  
"They sound almost like you and Ranma before you broke up the engagement, right sis?"  
  
Akane hushed her sister impatiently. "We haven't told people yet, you know th-"  
  
"The engagement is broken?" Ryoga froze in mid-swing, and looked at Akane with a mixture of fear and joy in his eyes. This had happened so many times before, but she sounded serious!  
A nagging little voice asked him why he cared, since he'd given up on Akane not long ago. He squished the voice resolutely.  
  
"Oh yeah, but only I and Kasumi know as of yet," Nabiki said smugly. She would earn such a fortune when this got out to the public... most people still believed the fighting couple would either end up married, or that one of them would get killed (probably by the other)  
  
"An opening!" Ranma crowed and launched a flying kick at Ryoga, who just managed to block it. But while the Lost Boy held out against the impact, the ground he stood on didn't.  
That 'the ground' consisted of a large rock sticking out over lots and lots of empty space, with a river somewhere far below didn't help much...  
  
"Gyaaaaaaaaah!"   
  
Shock written on their faces, Nabiki and Akane rushed forward, just in time to see Ranma and Ryoga hit the water with a loud splash.  
  
"Oh phooey. Now who's gonna help Kasumi fix the roof?" Nabiki said slightly annoyed. "I'm telling you, I'm not climbing up there!" she said with a shake of her head.  
  
Akane merely raised her head towards the sky and prayed that she wouldn't heft out her mallet and smash Nabiki down to were the unfortunate martial artists were... or would've been, hadn't the current been so strong.  
  
"What should we do?" she finally asked, when her fragile equilibrium was retained.  
  
"Hmm... Does this thing float?" Nabiki was indicating Ryoga's heavy backpack that lay on the ground next to her.  
  
Akane shrugged, and shook he head.  
  
"Ah well, he always seem to find it sooner or later," the older sister said and pushed the back down the slope. "There, now they can boil some water when the float ashore." Good deed done for today, the mercenary girl took her sister by the arm, and began dragging her towards home, and the waiting roof that the sporty and fit Akane would be much better equipped to mend then Nabiki herself.   
"Come on, sis, let's go home. The boys will manage fine, I'm sure."  
  
Incidentally, Ryoga's backpack *was* too heavy to float, but since it was almost as well-trained as Shirokuro when it came to following it's master, it gently rolled down the river, towards the Hibiki boy.  
  
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The end? 


End file.
